“I’m a little rundown,” he shrugged, now painfully aware he still wore yesterday’s clothes and most likely sported an epic case of bed hair. “I just woke up a few moments ago and thought I ought to feed Charlotte before hitting the showers. If you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing out here at this time of the morning?”
“I’m moving in.”
“Eh…er…what?” Adam did a double take, then noticed the suitcase in her hand. “Oh! Is everything okay? Do you need a hand with that?”
“Thank you, Mr. Sellars, but I can manage. Antonio will be up with the heavier suitcase in a minute. He has matters to attend to in Houston today and possibly tomorrow, so he will be leaving shortly. It has been decided I will move in to the room next to yours during his absence.”
“Huh?” he answered, stunned at this new development. “Antonio’s leaving?”
“Sometimes circumstances force him to change plans on short notice. I’m afraid this is one of those occasions. I’m sure we can manage without him for a day or two.” She approached and set the suitcase down near the door next to his. “You don’t mind having a new neighbor do you, Mr. Sellars?”
“Oh, not at all!” he replied on autopilot. And since his mouth was running the show while his brain tried to wrap itself around the idea of Antonio leaving him and Olivia alone in an area frequented by killer telepathic rednecks with giant spiders, it decided to add, “But it’s ‘Adam.’”
The words were uttered before he could call them back in.
And just like that he was knee deep in a Rubicon he hadn’t intended to cross without a lot more planning first…if he ever intended to cross it at all. He imagined there were more inappropriate times to try and achieve a better level of familiarity with the serious young woman than when events forced her to move in next to him, but at the moment he had a hard time picturing any of them.
Olivia paused in the act of inserting her key in the door and looked over at him with a face as unreadable as it was perfect. Her green eyes were dark in the dim light; two fathomless pools that regarded him with calm evaluation.
“Well,” he continued gamely in the desperate hope he hadn’t crossed some line and offended her, “if we’re going to be neighbors, I’d rather you call me Adam. ‘Mr. Sellars’ makes me sound like some fusty old ‘Mr. Jones’ type of neighbor, who shakes his cane at passing cars and yells at kids to get off his lawn.”
He tried not to visibly hold his breath as he watched to see how she took this.
There hung the slightest fraction of a pause, one that felt like an eternity to Adam, and then the merest hint of an upturn touched the corner of her mouth.
“Ah. Well, I suppose we can’t have that.” She finished opening her door and picked up her suitcase. “I shall let you get on with your moth hunt then, and your other morning activities. Besides, I believe Antonio should be coming up the stairs and he will likely want to have a word with you alone before he leaves. I’ll check in with you later. Have a good morning…Adam.”
Then she stepped inside and closed the door.
Adam exhaled and fought the urge to lean against the rail in relief. Once again he marveled at the effect she had on him. He knew he should focus on Tucker, the Spider People, and the existence of this new Matriarch but it seemed like every time he tried his thoughts would inevitably drift back to Olivia. And this latest ‘near death experience’ only drove home the reality of how much the mysterious young woman had moved into the center of his world.
Damn, Adam, you were almost ready to panic there for a second. I bet Antonio doesn’t sweat stuff like this…what with his cheeseburger theory and all. Of course, it’s probably a good thing he ain’t reading your mind these days and seeing what you’re thinking of his niece either…
“Good morning, Adam!”
“GAHHH!”
This time he managed not to whirl and lose his balance. Adam cursed himself internally while remembering Olivia had just told him Antonio was on his way up. He needed to get his mind back on the world around him. All this woolgathering threatened to make him look like an idiot.
“Sorry,” he apologized to the amused looking Chieftain. “I seem to be a little jumpy this morning.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Antonio replied as he moved over to Olivia’s door. “You’ve had a lot to take in over the past twenty-four hours. I assume you’re catching bugs for your charge?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Well, I’ll let you get on with it. I’ll have need of her services here shortly, and then you and I need to discuss a couple of things. I assume Olivia told you I would be leaving?”
“Yep. I can’t say I’m happy to see you go.”
“Neither am I,” the man replied as he grasped the doorknob to his niece’s room. “But Olivia assures me the risk is negligible.” There was the barest hint to his tone he might be trying to reassure himself of that as well.
“Well, there’s some good news,” Adam mused aloud as he managed to pin a moth between his hand and the wall. “I have to admit, she hasn’t been wrong yet.”
“She seldom is,” Antonio sighed, “but try not to admit that within her hearing. She’s bad enough as it is. I’ll be over shortly.”
###
Billy Clayton watched as first the woman, then the Dog Chieftain conversed with the outsider on the balcony.
Their arrival this early in the morning surprised him. The fact they carried suitcases made it appear one or both were relocating to the hotel…a rather astonishing development. Their choice of the little rental a half block from the Hallisboro Police Station was understood as a compromise between safety and showing some semblance of trust. But moving in next to the outsider? Billy wondered what his elders would make of this.
He observed the Chieftain go into the woman’s room for a short period, then come back out and enter the outsider’s. The outsider had been catching moths next to the light and had taken his haul in a moment earlier. At least it appeared he was honoring their forbearance on his behalf and taking care of his responsibility.
About five minutes later, the outsider’s door opened again and the Chieftain stepped out. Billy’s eyebrows raised as he realized the man carried the totem in one hand. What the hell? Why bring it back outside in the cold? Was he taking it somewhere?
Billy leaned forward and watched as the man leaned the totem against the wall next to one of the balcony lights, looked pointedly across the parking lot at him, then walked away. The Chieftain’s face was grim as he strode down the balcony to the stairs and descended to the parking lot. He wasted no time in walking straight to his car and opening the door.
But before getting in, he stopped and looked directly at Billy one more time. There was no subtle tip of the hat this time. He simply stared across the parking lot and straight at the boy with a face as serious as a heart attack. Billy held his breath as he remembered this man was a killer of some renown.
Then without further ado the the man climbed into his car, started the engine, and pulled away.
Billy watched the man’s taillights disappear down the street and frowned in thought.
What the hell was that all about?
The boy settled deeper into his seat and looked back across the street with a frown. The totem still rested near the balcony light where the Chieftain leaned it. It occurred to him the man may have placed it there next to the light to mitigate the effect of the cold. But why bring it back out in the first place?
He narrowed his eyes, squinting at the object in the predawn gloom, and leaned forward in the seat again. Was something different about it? Reaching around behind him, he pulled a small pair of binoculars from where they hung on the headrest. He put them to his eyes and peered at the distant totem. A second later, he gave a slow exhale as he understood what he looked at.
The Dog People had attached what looked like a note to the totem.
Nobody had anticipated this. Billy’s orders were to maintain a discreet distanc
e and simply observe until the meeting Wednesday night, but nobody had expected the Dog People to try and establish contact again until then. So now he was on the spot, and had to decide what to do next.
Billy considered getting the cell phone out of the glove box and calling in for advice, but it would take valuable time while he waited for the situation to be discussed by the Elders back in Weyrich. And during all that time the spiderling would be sitting out in the cold. Not to mention, he loathed cell phones like most of his brethren. Their near use gave his people headaches, and Billy’s heightened abilities only meant they bothered him worse. He could endure it, but it wasn’t something he relished.
Besides, with the main threat of the Dog Chieftain gone, investigation struck him as the most pragmatic solution.
He didn’t think the outsider presented much of a danger, and the woman had only first been encountered two weeks ago…meaning she most likely amounted to the assistant she appeared to be or, if not, the greenest of rookies. Besides, he couldn’t fathom any reason for this to be a trap. Even if it were successful, it would merely result in the resumption of the status quo and gain neither the outsider nor the Dog People anything. A trick to lure him in just didn’t make sense.
But Billy was no fool.
He reached up and tugged where the vinyl lining of the ceiling met the edge of the door, and opened a hidden pocket. Reaching in, he pulled a Taurus 9mm from its holster attached to the inside of the car’s roof. Resealing the vinyl, he slipped the handgun inside his jacket then did another quick scan of the area to make sure the other man hadn’t doubled back.
Nothing.
Nothing but the distant totem, sitting alone in the chilly morning gloom.
Stepping outside the car, he took another quick look around. He wished he had Sunspinner to augment his ability to monitor the area surrounding him. Even one of the Mother’s children to give her kiss would help. But at the same time he recognized the wish as more a function of habit than anything. He could see well enough to know he was alone and no threat which didn’t involve a rifle or other long distance ability menaced him…not exactly the type of danger that made sense under these circumstances.
Alert as a cat despite his relaxed appearance, Billy walked across the street and straight toward the distant totem. He briefly debated heading for the stairs at the end of the building, then chose not to. Darkness shrouded them and offered the one place where a potential assailant might have cover enough to get close. If that were the case, they were about to be disappointed.
Billy strode over the asphalt till he reached a spot directly below where the totem rested on the balcony above. Then he did another quick scan of the area to see if anybody watched. Satisfied he remained unobserved, the boy turned his attention back to the balcony above him.
With one graceful motion he did a standing jump and caught the bottom of the balcony railing with both hands. It wasn’t a superhuman leap—many basketball players could have done the same thing—but nobody would have expected it from the skinny kid who stood about five foot ten.
And that basketball player would have been hard pressed to pull off what he did next.
With a look of intent concentration, Billy pulled himself up one of the railing bars with an effortless hand over hand motion then vaulted over the top bar and onto the balcony. He landed in a crouch, one hand already grasping the gun inside his jacket. The boy’s eyes searched the balcony from one end to the other, but he remained alone.
Also, at this close distance he could start to feel the spirit of the outsider through the walls. Not much. But just enough to know the man was nervous, and waiting for him to show up and then leave. The outsider also radiated a bit of protective worry over the woman next door. Interesting…that jibed with the brief impression he had gotten of the man at the park. He got nothing from the direction of the woman’s room but that didn’t surprise him. She would be using whatever means the Dog People used to quiet their spirits.
Keeping a wary eye on the woman’s door, Billy walked over to the totem.
He extended one hand and gave a mental command. The spider immediately scuttled down his arm and into the warmth under his jacket. The arachnid went straight to an appointed place on his back. Once there it sank it’s fangs through his shirt.
Billy ignored the bite, and studied what he now saw to be a folded piece of paper attached to the pole. With another suspicious glance around, and then at the woman’s door, he unfolded the paper and read the words contained within.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, his eyebrows rising as he read.
Finishing the note, he tugged it off the pole as instructed and stuffed it in his pocket. The Elders would want to see this. It looked like he was going to have to make that phone call for sure now.
With the venom from the Mother’s Kiss now beginning to enhance his senses, he did another quick check of his surroundings before making his next move. The outsider still remained near the rear of his room, wondering how long this would take and still worrying about the woman next door. He still got nothing from her. The effectiveness of Dog People’s spirit-quietening drugs bothered him, and he wondered if he would be able to detect them if he had Sunspinner present to boost him further.
Regardless, it was time to go.
Extending his arm again, Billy gave another mental command and the spiderling scuttled back out from under his jacket and down his arm to the totem. He watched as it resumed its place in the center of the web. Then the boy gently lifted the totem, carried it over to the outsider’s door, then leaned it next to the door as the note instructed. He checked to make sure it was stable and unlikely to fall, then reached over and delivered three sharp, slow knocks on the door.
On the other side of the wall, Billy sensed a slight bit of relief on the man’s part as he started a one hundred count like the note promised. At the end of the count, the outsider would bring the totem back inside. He apparently intended to make it a slow count to give Billy extra time to get clear.
With a snort of disdain, the boy turned away from the door and grasped the railing. Even enhanced as he was, he still didn’t trust the darkened stairs. He did a fast scan of the area for more distant watchers before making his next move. Still satisfied he remained unobserved, Billy vaulted the railing and landed neatly in the parking lot below.
Again, not quite a superhuman feat. But even an Olympic gymnast would have been hard pressed to do it with the ease and confidence of the boy who now sauntered across the parking lot back toward his car.
Yet despite his outward demeanor, Billy’s mind puzzled over the implications of the note. It said the woman was the Dog Chieftain’s niece, his sub-chieftain, and only living relative…and she was being left behind as proof of the Dog People’s trust in the truce. He didn’t know much about the other tribe’s structure, due to the uniqueness of his own, but he understood that made her very important.
He would call in to inform his Elders of this new development and await instruction. But with the rest of his people too busy with other matters, he figured this end of the situation would continue to rest on his shoulders.
“Just great,” he muttered. “Now I’m babysitting a Dog People princess.”
###
“Come in, Adam.”
“Howdy, neighbor.” Adam opened the door to Olivia’s hotel room. A quick peek around revealed it to be identical to his own. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but when it came to Antonio and his niece, Adam had gotten into the attitude of being ready for anything. But this time the “anything” appeared to be rather mundane. Just an ordinary hotel room with Olivia perched on the end of the bed, gazing up at the television.
“Anything good on TV?” he queried as he closed the door behind him.
“As a matter of fact,” she nodded at the television while pointing her remote at the laptop she had sitting on a nearby desk, “I think you will find this rather interesting.”
Adam moved into the r
oom and stood by the bed to get a better angle on the TV. It took him a second to realize what the screen depicted.
“Hey, it’s the front of our hotel,” he exclaimed as he leaned forward for a better look, “but where is the camera?”
“It’s in the tree at the corner of the parking lot. Observe.”
She pushed a button and the picture reset to the same scene but during the night. Adam started to squint at the image but the camera chose that time to zoom in toward their rooms, thus saving him the effort. It focused in on the Spider People’s totem leaning against the wall near the balcony light, then slowly started zooming out again.
“You recorded it,” Adam breathed aloud as he watched the image. “I keep forgetting about you and your cameras.”
“That is my job.”
Adam tried to decide if he detected a hint of defensiveness, or something else, in her reply. It was so hard to tell with her.
“I’ve got no problem with that,” he responded as he peered at the screen. “You definitely put them to good use.”
On the screen the shadowy shape of the teen from the Spider Tribe entered the picture and stopped beneath the railing.
“Whoah!” Adam exclaimed softly as the boy leaped up and pulled himself over the railing. He continued to watch with rapt attention as the youngster allowed the spider to crawl into his jacket while reading the note, then put his arm up to the totem so the large arachnid could return to its place. Then the boy placed the totem next to his door, knocked, and vaulted over the railing and out of the picture.
“Holy crap!” Adam whispered, “Athletic bastard, ain’t he! And was he controlling the spider? Does that mean Charlotte is one of those companions you were talking about earlier? I’m not sure I’m crazy about sharing the room with her if she can suddenly get a mind of her own like that.”
“To take your questions one at a time…” Olivia stood and walked over to the laptop. “Yes, as you’ve seen before, some second generation Spider People exhibit physical talents to go along with their mental ones. Also, it seems their tribe’s talents have some degree of control over spiders when they are very near. And no, ‘Charlotte’ would not be his companion. Remember, his companion is likely twice to three times her size. Finally, you can relax on the idea of your roommate attacking you in your sleep. Her bite isn’t powerful enough to be dangerous to you, so there would hardly be a point.”
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